It has certainly been a festive week this time around at Nintendo Life. We’ve been busy getting all things ready for the end of the year and are now ready to catch up on all of the great games that we have missed in the meantime.
The week brought us our Nintendo Switch Year in Review (always a reminder that we do, in fact, play surprisingly little) and we put together a list of our most-played games. We also asked you lovely lot for your favourite Switch games of the year, while we looked ahead and discussed our most-anticipated games for 2023 (that aren’t Zelda).
In the world of reviews this week, we have been filling up on quality content all-round. Our thoughts on the retro beat ’em up River City Girls 2, the delightful Lil Gator Game and the brilliant Chained Echoes are now up for you to read – perfect for a last-minute gift, we’d say!
Now a group of our writers have come together to share what games they are going to be playing over the weekend. Take a browse through our suggestions and then take to the comments to let us know what’s on your downtime list!
Merry readings!
Alana Hagues, Staff Writer
Chained Echoes is going to be my game of choice for the coming weeks – I’m only a few hours in but it’s really good. The plot moves at a great pace and the combat has just enough wrinkles to it that it makes the otherwise old-school turn-based battle system feel fresh. Honestly, nothing feels more cosy and festive to me than curling up with a SNES-style RPG.
And, even though I should be buying gifts for other people, I bought Lil Gator Game for myself so I’ll probably be starting that this weekend. I think my love of crocodiles is well-documented (Totodile, Krookodile, Skeledirge), and I need something a little more wholesome compared to some of the events of Chained Echoes.
Jim Norman, Staff Writer
With the news of Death Stranding 2 from The Game Awards, I have fired up the ol’ PS4 this week in an attempt to get round to finally finishing the first game. Aside from having to learn all of the controls from scratch once again and getting washed away by BTs left, right and centre, I am still having a good time with it and am excited to play more.
In the world of Switch, who knows what the weekend will hold? I have recently finished off all my current playthroughs – right in time for the meaty Switch eShop sale, I might add – so perhaps something new will be on the cards. Much to my shame, I have never actually played Hades and that is being given a tasty discount at the moment so perhaps it’s time to finally take it on.
Kate Gray, Staff Writer
OOOOH my pre-Christmas gaming calendar is quite full. I’m playing Metal Gear Solid V for the first time — it’s my very first Kojima game, too, so that’s an experience — and it turns out I’m really good at it, which is a nice feeling. My partner is also playing Outer Wilds for the first time, which I’ve been waiting for for YEARS, to the point where it’s actually a bit stressful!
On Switch, though, it’s wrapping up Pokémon Scarlet, and I just bought Aka… which is lovely, but a bit broken so far, which is a shame. But I’m confident a couple of patches will help!
Ollie Reynolds, Staff Writer
With this weekend marking the 35th anniversary of the first Mega Man game, I’m going to be booting up Mega Man Legacy Collection on the Switch and… playing every title except the first one. Look, we all know it’s the most inferior. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to diving back into the series and who knows, maybe we’ll get some news from Capcom about where the franchise is going next…
Elsewhere, I’ll be booting up The Witcher 3 on the Series X. I’ve already tried out the new update and although the visuals don’t look significantly different to me (I’m playing on Performance Mode), the altered camera angle is a huge improvement, so I can’t wait to dig into it a bit more.
Gonçalo Lopes, Reviewer
Still at it on Front Mission 1st: Remake. It’s great that the same tactics used all those years ago on Super Famicom still work on Switch today so whenever I’m strapped for cash to upgrade my wanzers into the ultimate metal menaces I just strap Gregorio in the crappiest parts available with two beefy melee weapons and watch him disassemble opponents that have 2.50 odds against. This should be illegal! On that note, France won the Virtua Striker 3 ver. 2002 Shiryu Living Room World Cup 2022 on Gamecube.
Game of the Week is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. Sony’s PSP came late into my gaming path but I still managed to gather a fine collection of games. Sadly I did not have much time for JRPGs so I only played a few hours of this one’s original outing. I plan to make up for that and who knows, this just might be my gateway into Final Fantasy VII Remake. PS: Sephiroth did nothing wrong.
As ever, thank you for reading! Make sure to leave us a comment below with your weekend gaming plans!
